Front & Center: D.C. divide recalls Civil War era

October 16, 2013

Even in a town accustomed to partisan conflict, the battles lately between Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C., have been epic in their intensity and impact. They've left the federal government partially shut down since Oct. 1, and also pushed the government perilously close to its first-ever default.

Most Americans are fed up. A poll released last week pegged Congress' approval rating at just 5 percent.

Aubrey Jewett, a political-science professor at the University of Central Florida, says the nation's capital hasn't been as polarized since the Civil War and its aftermath. But in an email interview with Sentinel Opinions Editor Paul Owens, Jewett says history leaves hope that today's divisions won't last. Interview excerpts follow:

Q: How toxic are politics now — do Washington politicians really hate each other so much?

A: Some members of Congress really do hate each other. This is particularly true of the leadership who reportedly use profanities, slurs and disdainful language to refer to the leaders of the opposite party. For a number of rank-and-file members, it seems more about deep differences in policy — taxes, government spending, the national debt and particularly the Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare.

Q: What accounts for the current level of hostility?

A: Congressional Republicans are very conservative, and congressional Democrats are very liberal, and moderates are almost nonexistent. Many members are from safe, gerrymandered districts, which give them no reason to compromise — and even competitive districts sometimes turn out ideological extremes (see Congressmen Keller, Grayson and Webster elected from the same competitive district over a six-year period). Since George W Bush became president, public opinion polls show that Republicans have increasingly negative feelings about the Democratic Party and Democrats have increasingly negative feeling about the Republican Party — both trends accelerated under President Obama. Polls also show Republican trust in government has plummeted from over 50 percent when Bush was in office to less than 10 percent in Obama's second term.

Q: Has Congress been this divided and dysfunctional before?

A: Statistically, the congressional parties are more ideologically polarized than they have been since the Reconstruction Era of the 1870s. Previous to that, Congress was even more volatile and dysfunctional during the 1850s because of profound disagreements over slavery. There were a number of physical altercations in Congress including the brutal beating of one senator with a cane, a brawl that broke out among dozens of members, a few members who pulled out their pistols, and several challenges to duel with guns or Bowie knives. It took a Civil War to iron out those differences.

Q: Is there any chance that things will change in the future?

A: The climate in Congress almost certainly will change. Hopefully it will change sooner rather than later and without the necessity of another Civil War! Over time the public will change, membership will change and issues will change. After the deep divisions of the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, polarization between the political parties in Congress declined for decades, and between 1930 and 1990, Republican and Democratic lawmakers were much closer than they are today, compromising on liberal legislation in the 1960s and conservative legislation in the 1980s.

Q: Does one party or the other deserve more blame for the current state of politics in the nation's capital?

A: The majority of journalists and congressional scholars tend to place more blame on House Republicans for being obstructionists, for not following the tradition of accepting legislation once it passes, and for not truly representing the majority of Americans.

However, Democrats should probably not be surprised that Republicans are using whatever procedural maneuvers they can to defund, delay or destroy the Affordable Care Act, since the majority of the public still does not like it, and since Democrats bent the rules and historical custom to the breaking point to pass it. Regardless of what pundits believe, polls show the public blames both parties, but blames Republicans more.

Q: How about President Obama?

A: The president shares some of the blame, and his disapproval ratings have moved higher than his approval ratings over the past few months.

The president has to acknowledge that Republicans control the House and that he cannot just dictate terms — and congressional Republicans likewise must acknowledge that Obama was re-elected and they are almost certainly not going to significantly change the Affordable Care Act while there is divided government.